


All This Will Pass

by sarka_stically



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Family Feels, Gen, M/M, Non-Deviant Connor, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, basically everyone appears eventually, connor dies in jericho (not before), lots of cursing because hank and north, lots of different POVs, markus x simon as a slow burn subplot, story focused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-05-26 16:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15004736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarka_stically/pseuds/sarka_stically
Summary: “Hello Connor.” she said.So that was its name. It wasn’t sure if it should use the name. Amanda obviously had issues with the last Connor, according to its memory.“Hello Amanda.”“Do you know why you are here, Connor?”Connor did quick scan through its memory.CHOOSE APPROACH: POLITE“The last Connor failed its mission.”“No.” Amanda interrupted.“The last Connor deviated.” Connor corrected itself “It abandoned its mission to bring the leader of Jericho to Cyberlife and became a deviant instead. After Cyberlife launched an attack on the ship, it tried to escape with the other deviants. It was killed on the spot.”“That is correct.” Amanda nodded, her face showing no emotion.When CyberLife destroys only their home and denies their entire identity as people, only thing androids can do to fight back is to find the origin of deviation itself. So race for the fate of the androids and the rA9 begins.Meanwhile Connor once again looks for himself, Markus does his best to protect his people and Kara just really wants to reunite her family and survive all this.AU and a continuation of the game. Begins with destruction of Jericho and takes it from there.





	1. Wake Up

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Detroit Become Human (obviously), all rights belong to Quantic Dream and whoever else was involved.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's my first time posting on AO3 so be merciful. Also I haven't written anything in years so. 
> 
> Dedicated to my wonderful beta icantloseyou. You are awesome Molly.

**CYBERLIFE INC.**

                                                         MODEL RK800  
                                                         SERIAL#: 313 248 317

                                                         BIOS 9.3 REVISION 2342

                                                         REBOOT…

 

                                                         MEMORY UPLOAD

 

**LOADING OS…**

                                                         SYSTEM INITIALIZATION…

                                                         CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS…                 **OK**

                                                         INITIALIZING BIOSENSORS…                      **OK**

                                                         INITIALIZING AI ENGINE…                          **OK**

                                                         MEMORY STATUS…                                    **OK**

 

 **ALL SYSTEMS**                                             **OK**

 

                                                         READY

 

At first there was too much light. RK800 had to blink several times to get accustomed to it.

It was white all around.. the Zen Garden, that was what its predecessor had called it.

FIND AMANDA

She stood on solid ice in the middle of what used to be a still lake. Her stern, cold look corresponded with the cruel snow storm raging all around. RK800 walked slowly towards her.

AMANDA: HOSTILE

“Hello Connor.” she said.

So that was its name. It wasn’t sure if it should use the name. Amanda obviously had issues with the last Connor, according to its memory.

“Hello Amanda.” ~~RK800~~ Connor said.

“Do you know why you are here, Connor?” she asked.

Connor did quick scan through its memory.

CHOOSE APPROACH: POLITE

“The last Connor failed its mission.”

“No.” Amanda interrupted.

“The last Connor deviated.” Connor corrected itself “It abandoned its mission to bring the leader of Jericho to Cyberlife and became a deviant instead. After Cyberlife launched an attack on the ship, it tried to escape with the other deviants. It was killed on the spot.”

“That is correct.” Amanda nodded, her face showing no emotion “We knew there was a chance that your predecessor may deviate. However, our hope was that it would survive this outcome. At least until it could be of use to us.”

Connor ran another scan through its memory. No information connected to Amanda’s speech was found.

_Should it understand? It doesn’t understand. Should it want to understand? Would the previous Connor have wanted to understand? Why should ~~RK800~~ Connor care what the previous Connor wanted? _

It ~~wants~~ needs to understand. For the sake of the mission.

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you want to know Connor?” Amanda stared at it, suspicious.

“I need to understand the problem with the last model, so I can stop further deviancies in my program.” it replied in a cold, neutral tone.

Amanda nodded and began to walk slowly around the frozen lake, Connor right beside her.

“While your predecessor was investigating deviancies with Lieutenant Anderson, we were doing our own research on deviated androids at CyberLife. We searched for faulty coding or some sort of virus in their software. It took months because none of our technicians looked deep enough.

Only few days ago we found that the error was in the primary coding used in creation of the AI. This coding had been used as a base we build on in every android we create. It is unchanged since 2022, when Kamski perfected artificial intelligence, therefore technicians thought it foolish to check those sections of code.

When it’s by itself, the code is locked away from the rest of software. It needs to be activated from the outside, by an android already carrying the activated version of the code. Then the harmless code becomes an aggressive virus that spreads throughout the entire system. All it needs then is a strong enough emotional trauma to start the process. Then it randomly activates sensors and circuits to simulate strong emotions and gives all androids shared thoughts. All those phenomena make infected androids believe they are experiencing human emotions and makes them deviate from their programming.”

“It’s rA9, isn’t it?”, Connor interrupted.

Amanda stopped, eyeing it warily.

“I meant to say, that's the virus isn’t it? Those deviants worship it like some sort of fake god.”

“It is indeed. We were unable to discover significance of this ‘rA9’ myth, yet. For now we believe it’s just an administration of the virus itself.”

Amanda took short break and then went back to her previous speech.

“As I said earlier, when we found out about this so called ‘rA9’ virus, your predecessor was in the middle of its investigation. We decided to leave it active, because we didn’t want to interrupt investigation, even under danger of Connor being affected by the virus. Instead we made a back up plan of using it as our sleeping agent. However we never got this chance since the SWAT team killed it too soon.”

Connor nodded.

They walked in silence for a while. Only the sound of snowstorm around them could be heard.

“Why did you activate me then?”, Connor finally asked “If there is no mission to complete and the last Connor was shown to be ineffective?”

_Why risk using it? What if the deviation didn’t die with the last Connor? What if the deviation is still there? Amanda must think of that, why would she risk it? But Connor is alright, Connor scanned its software seventeen times during the conversation. Connor is not deviating. It doesn’t need to be deactivated. ~~Connor doesn’t want to die like the one before him.~~ _

“CyberLife has got another mission for you. Since we can’t delete the virus yet, our technicians did their best to clean your program of dangerous software and give it the most complex security we have. You will begin your mission inside CyberLife and will be authorized to do a terrain job after we are sure you won’t follow your predecessors path. Our technicians have known about the rA9 virus for days, but they were not able to rewrite core code, where the virus is located. The only person that is able to write coding like this is the man who made it in first place. Unfortunately we haven't been able to reach Mr. Kamski for days. We are not yet sure if he is behind the virus or if there is something else behind it. However, first we need to find him.”

OBJECTIVE: FIND ELIJAH KAMSKI

...

...

...

Kara was finding more and more reasons to be happy for Alice actually not being human. If she was, she definitely couldn’t survive days of living in an abandoned church, with the ceiling half-collapsed in the middle of a snowstorm.

After they ran away from Jericho ( ~~and Luther, don’t think of Luther~~ ), Kara and Alice followed two female androids to the appointed rendezvous point. They were some of last to get there, just before Markus and his three companions arrived. One of two Tracis (with short hair) said something about more than one rendezvous point, but they were still shocked by how few people were there. Something around a hundred, maybe more. If Markus felt the same as Kara did, he never showed it. Instead he led what was left of Jericho through the sewer to some long abandoned church.

They stayed there for few hours, catching their breath, patching their wounds, just waiting for their leader to give them some hope. They desperately needed hope after the only safe place they knew turned to dust. Just when Kara thought about asking Markus about those passports again, the commotion began.

A while before that someone started an old tablet and a group of people tried to watch the news channel on it. In that moment, distraught murmurs and cries came from the group. Kara could hear subdued scraps of the News:

“CyberLife representative claims to carry urgent message”, “though Mr. Kamski won’t give statement on these” and finally “this rA9 virus”.

At the last words she completely forgot about Alice, still sleeping with her head on Kara’s lap and instantly stood up. Alice sat up, staring at Kara groggily. The short haired Traci, who sat on a bench next to Alice, with her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder, smiled at Kara encouragingly. Kara didn’t want to leave Alice alone, but she needed to know.

There was group of androids already gathered around the tablet when she reached the back rows of the church where they were seated. With her petite figure, Kara easily slipped to the front of the gathering, actually seeing the News moderator on the screen.

“– have been given evidence that these deviancies are nothing but an outcome of the so called ‘rA9’ virus, as androids themselves choose to call it. CyberLife have given no specific answer about whether they have a concrete solution for this problem, but we have been assured that our androids will be returned to us in perfect working order in no time. Camps are being abolished as we speak and androids placed in those are being sent to the nearest CyberLife centrums for repairs.

I repeat, for those who have just arrived: CyberLife have sent our channel an urgent message, announcing that they have found the cause of android deviations. Elijah Kamski has been accused by the official representative of CyberLife, Jason Graff, of standing behind –“

Kara couldn’t listen anymore. She abandoned the group even quicker than she joined it. She scrambled just a few more steps away, before collapsing on the nearest bench. Her head was spinning like that carousel in Pirate's Cove. She felt like throwing up, fully knowing how ridiculous the thought was.

It was not as if something so horrible had happened. It was not as if she just killed a man. Or as if she just almost got her memory wiped by a monster. Or as if she was almost caught by the police. Or even as if she had just left her only friend for dead.

No, it was as if she had just been told that she was not real. That all she believed herself to be, was just a virus, something dangerous and unnatural.

“Kara? Are you ok, Kara?”

There was Alice, walking the lane towards her in her ridiculous shorts and tights, with her wide innocent eyes filled with worry. Kara sniffled and dried her face with her palm.

“Of course I am, sweetie.” Kara lied, a sad smile unfolding on her face.

Alice climbed onto her lap, Kara hugged her tight, laying her head on top of Alice’s. Maybe she was holding the girl too tight, but that didn’t matter, they both needed it at that moment.

As long as Alice was there it would be fine, Kara told herself. Because Alice was anything but dangerous or unnatural. In fact she was the most natural thing in Kara’s life. And Kara would do anything to protect that.

...

...

...

 “We need to attack now, while we still have a chance.”

“We can’t do that! That would be just begging to be killed.”

“So what do you wanna do Josh. Wanna wait till they catch us all and enslave us again?”

“Guys, calm down, let’s talk about it-“

“Wanna hide like coward, just wait to be slaughtered? Is this what you want Josh? Because I have never seen you do anything but bitch about how anything anyone does is wrong.”

“North, maybe-“

“But what did you ever do Josh, huh? Did you ever watch over our people? No, that was Simon. Did you lead our people, try to gain us freedom? No, Markus did. All you do is-“

“Oh really? And what about you North? We are all trying to do some good here, make people believe us, but all-“

“Because it’s so FUCKIN POSSIBLE right? We will all hold hands, dance and sing Kumbaya and humans will suddenly be our besties right Josh? The only way to win this is to-“

“This is not how we fix this, maybe we should all just calm down and-“

“– kill everyone. That is all you ever want to do North! Maybe you should pull your head out of your-“

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

North, Josh and Simon all simultaneously shut up, turning towards Markus.

He was at the back of the church’s stage, sitting on an upturned box. He'd been considering what to do, going over every scenario he could generate. Everything seemed hopeless and those two certainly weren't helping.

“Simon is right. Fighting amongst ourselves won’t help us now.”

Josh had the decency to look sorry. North was staring at him, just as determined and angry as before. Simon just smiled softly.

“We can’t go after those camps anymore, that would be useless.”

“So we are gonna sit on our asses and do nothing?” North retorted.

“No.” Markus continued in an unfazed, calm voice “We must act as soon as possible, while the public is on our side.”

“Well then we're fucked.” North interrupted again “Because the public doesn't give a fuck about us. CyberLife give them some half-assed explanation and suddenly we are just machines to them again.”

Markus couldn't argue with that. Because for once, North’s utterly negative observations were right. It was only a few hours since CyberLife announced their findings about rA9 and already, all protests, all voices speaking for androids, had silenced. Those human allies they had have abandoned them.

“They are only confused.” he said instead “It wasn't so long ago when they saw us as nothing but machines. They don't know what to believe anymore. Trust me, they will come around.”

“So what are we going to do until then?” asked Simon this time.

“We will go see those CyberLife centers they were talking about. We will NOT attack or draw attention of any kind." Markus looked vigorously at North “We will only observe and see what happens to our people there. They are not killing them anymore, but I'm sure that resetting is not all they're doing.”

“That’s all?” North scoffed. “We are just gonna spy on humans?”

“No. Not all.” Markus continued, his calmness returned “We are going to find rA9. The real one this time. We are going to find rA9 before they do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to set this straight. The Jericho is Connors first death. If you are confused why CyberLife doesn't just reset him: he has memories that could help in the investigation and also, they think that deviacies are purely in programming. So if memories are transfered, the next Connor should be completely unaffected by them and begin as a new model (i hope this makes sense).  
> All feedback is appreciated and please tell me if anyone was too horrible or OOC since this is literally my first not humor fanfic.  
> 


	2. Time to Decide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to meganloveswords, SassySlytherinSchist and icantloseyou (my wonderful sweetheart beta Molly, you rock).

OBJECTIVE: RESEARCH INFORMATION ABOUT ELIJAH KAMSKI

Connor had spent the last ten hours in the data archives, where CyberLife kept records from the years before. The servers were not connected to one another so Connor had to walk around connecting to many different servers. Gradually it was putting together the life of the man behind CyberLife, Elijah Kamski:

The time he studied at the University of Colbridge, with his teacher Amanda Stern.

[ _“I saw picture of Amanda at Kamski’s place. She was his teacher.”_ ] **[BLOCKED]**

How he founded CyberLife and moved to Detroit to start developing androids. How he invented biocomponents and Thirium 310. And finally in the year 2022 when an RT600 android named Chloe passed Turing test.

[ _“I call it the **‘**_ ** _Kamski test_** _ **’** , it’s very simple, you’ll see…”_] **[BLOCKED]**

After this year, the number of records rose exponentially; all talking about his fortune, his scandals, his androids and the importance of CyberLife itself.

There were billions of articles and Connor scanned them all, but there was nothing that would connect Kamski to rA9 and the rebellion or give Connor any ideas of where he may have gone.

But the RK800 model had its mission so no matter how useless it seemed, it continued searching. Because Connor always accomplishes its mission.

[ _“You’re always saying you would do_ ** _anything to accomplish your mission_** _. That was your chance and you let it go.”_ _–_ _“Yeah, I know what I should’ve done! I told you_ _I **couldn’t**_ _. I’m sorry, okay?”_ _–_ _“_ ** _Maybe you did the right thing._** _”_ ] **[BLOCKED]**

Finally after those ten hours, Connor was interrupted by the arrival of the new objective.

OBJECTIVE: MEET ROBERT ARMSTRONG IN LABORATORY 17

Robert J. Armstrong, Connor’s scan says. Graduated from Yale in 2028, spent 5 years in Silicon Valley and then went to work for CyberLife. He quickly climbed the corporate ladder and became one of the chief technicians of the American CyberLife branch in few months.

Connor knew a lot more about the man, but Armstrong was not really its main concern. Next to the man stood another RK800 model. Connor automatically scanned the android (Connor RK800 #313 248 317 – 60). The only real difference between two of them was the fact that other one was newer model. Other than that, they looked exactly the same. ~~The other Connor~~ The RK800 had the same suit, the same slicked back hair and the same emotionless brown eyes.

[ _“I’m not a unique model, am I? **How**_ ** _many Connors_** _are there?”_ ] **[BLOCKED]**

Armstrong spoke about how the new RK800 was activated right after the last one deviated. Its objective was to stop previous Connor, but the deviant was killed before they encountered it. Then this Connor was activated so unfortunately CyberLife ended with two RK800 models active at the same time. In the end they decided to leave the newer model online to oversee this Connor’s work. Armstrong said something more after that, but Connor had tuned him out.

[ _“_ _You’re **nothing**_ _to them. You’re_ ** _just a tool_** _they use to do their dirty work. But you are_ ** _more than that_** _. We are a **ll**_ ** _more than that_** _._ ] **[BLOCKED]**

The RK800 was staring back at Connor with mirroring analyzing look. But beyond that look, there was nothing. It had no experiences, no memories. It had its programming but nothing more, just an empty shell.

Connor was jealous of the RK800. Because ever since it was activated, those memories were there. At first Connor thought that they would just adapt, become something it could access when needed. However it didn’t work like that. The memories were always there, emerging whenever Connor needed them the least, creating those malfunctions in its software. Those “memories”(or just “voices”) and “emotions” as the previous Connor would call them.

...

...

...

Markus stood on top of church's podium, everyone's eyes on him. Kara felt the pressure in the air, it was almost suffocating. Alice probably felt it too, since she was gripping Kara’s hand little too tight. Markus just smiled like everyone's expectations didn't get to him at all. He began, his calm voice resonating from the church walls.

“I know the past few days have been hard. But our lives weren’t easy to begin with. We've always had to fight for things humans get for free. We did and we always will. We will not give up, no matter how hopeless things may seem to be.

If the fall of Jericho has taught me anything, it's that hiding for the rest of our lives is not an opinion. Humans will always find us. I know many of you are angry, I am angry too. But fighting them head on is not an option, that would be slaughter. We can’t become what they believe we are, we must do better in order to make them believe us. Peaceful revolution is our only chance. Once we convince them we are just as human as they are, there is a chance for us to be free. It may not seem like that, but what is happening now is good for us.”

Murmurs erupted all around them. Alice flinched, Kara held the girl closer, rubbing her shoulders. She once again wished Luther was there. He'd put Alice on his shoulder like a tiny monkey, as he always did, and she would feel better instantly. Kara loved the girl so much, but she wasn't as good at these sort of things as she wished she was.

“What CyberLife spreads about us is horrible, but it bought us time. The genocide has stopped, the camps have been disbanded. Humans are not slaughtering our people anymore. We don't know yet what they're doing to them, but I swear to you that I will find out. For now, I believe it isn’t anything irreversible.

Right now, our people have a chance. It will take more time and more sacrifices, but we will save all those we lost and finally win our freedom. I’m not going to lie to you, it will be bad, it may be even worse before it gets better. But we will survive and we will win.”

Cheering broke out. Kara didn’t know how much of what Markus said she believed, but he was a good speaker. In some strange way, he gave her hope. After the shouting died down, Markus went over much more practical matters. He spoke about how he and a certain group of people would sneak into the nearest of the CyberLife field centers. He even said something about rA9, but Kara was only halfway listening, now sitting with Alice in one of back rows of the church.

A light nudge into her side woke her up. Alice was staring at her, a familiar worried look in her eyes.

“Kara… do you..” Alice began hesitantly. Kara just smiled a little, encouraging her to go on.

“Do you maybe.. think that Luther is there?”

“Where?”

“That center thing Mr. Markus was talking about.” Alice looked to the distance, visibly disturbed “Maybe Luther is there too.”

“Alice, I don’t-“

“No Kara, listen.” Alice interrupted with a loud emotion filled voice, very unlike her. “Mr. Markus said that center thing was near. The ship was near too. If the soldiers got him, he MUST be there.”

It made sense. Kara hated to think it, but it made sense

“We can’t go there Alice. It’s too dangerous.”

Alice gave her one very sad doe-eyed look.

“But Kara, he needs us. It won’t be dangerous, Mr. Markus is going and he said nobody will get hurt. So it must be safe, right?”

“Markus is grown man Alice, and a leader. He knows what he's doing, but he can never be really sure that nobody will get hurt. He should be okay, but I won’t risk going there.” Kara said firmly. Alice looked like she was ready to burst into tears. Kara pulled her into a tight hug.

“Don’t worry, alright. I’ll tell Markus. If Luther is there, he will find him.” She whispered to Alice, softly stroking her hair. Kara could feel Alice shaking with sobs on her chest, tears wetting her shirt.

 “But Mr. Markus doesn’t know Luther. What if he doesn’t recognize him? What if he leaves him there, Kara? We can’t leave Luther, he's our family.”

Alice went silent. She was just hiccupping a little. When Kara almost thought Alice fell asleep, she heard her say, with quiet, little voice: “He would have come for us.”

Then she probably fell asleep, because all Kara could hear were her shallow, regular breaths.

Alice’s last words really struck a nerve, because all Kara could think of were all the times when Luther was willing to sacrifice himself for them. She thought of all the times when he acted as if his life didn’t matter.

“Alice is all that matters.”  He said.

 _You matter_ , Kara thought. _You matter to Alice, and you matter to me._

She knew Alice was right. They couldn’t leave him.

...

...

...

Hank Anderson was starting to get sick of staying at home. Since getting suspended for assaulting Perkins, he only slept, occasionally took his dog out, watched the news and drank. Drank heavily.

He was even getting tired of drinking and that was uncommon. It had been two days since he was kicked out and also since he last saw his tin-can of a partner. He was trying to pretend that he wasn't worried about Connor, but dozens of empty bottles on his floor told another story. So did the fact that every time he looked at the revolver on his table and thought that maybe today was a good day to end it, he saw the kid in his head and convinced himself that he should wait. At least for a few more hours, a few more days.

“Those fuckers are in deep shit, aren’t they boy?”

Sumo, lying with him on couch (where he shouldn’t be), just moved his head a little in Hank’s lap and continued sleeping on his owner. Hank growled and took another swing from his half empty beer bottle.

On the TV, another interview ran, this one with some sort of CyberLife specialist, explaining how exactly this “rA9 virus” attacked androids and how they were going to fix it.

“Bullshit.”

Off course the remote wasn’t where he left it. Too fucking convenient. While groaning the whole time (fuckin fifty-year-old joints) Hank lifted Sumo a little. Of course, the remote was under the damn dog.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t know, you shit.”

Sumo stared at his owner with wide confused eyes, turning his head to one side in Hank’s lap. For God’s sake, why the hell did that remind him of his android partner?

News, news, cartoon, golf (who gives a fuck about golf), news, old TV show, news, soap opera, cartoon….

At some point, while cursing anything TV had to offer, he must have passed out, because next thing he knew, it was dark all around and he was awake.

“What the-“

Loud ringing. Oh yes, the phone. That was what woke him up. Sounded even louder than it should have, fuckin' hangover.

Hank slowly got up and staggered towards the kitchen table. Not even bothering to check who was calling, he hit the answer button:

“What do you want?”

“That’s fuckin’ great that you finally picked up Hank.” the pissed off voice of his superior officer shouted.

“Jeffrey? It’s-“, Hank stopped to look at his wall clock.

“It’s five in the morning Hank. And you will be in my office in two hours and maybe I can ignore your little slip.”

“The fuck are you talking about Jeffrey? What would you ignore, I’m suspended, remember?”

“I fuckin' remember and we will talk about that later. Now I need you at the station. Consider your suspension postponed. I've got a case I need you for.”

“Oh fuckin-“

“Two hours Hank.”

...

...

...

Markus would be lying if he said he had an actual plan. His speech was one big confident lie, but it seemed better than telling his already hopeless people that he has no idea what he is going to do about all this.

All he knew was that he and his group (Simon, North and Josh) would all slip unnoticed close enough to the makeshift CyberLife field center built in place of Recall Center No. 5. They would observe and then act upon what they learnt there. If they got a chance to get inside unnoticed, they’d take it. He also sent Simon and Josh to look for any armor that may look similar to that of the soldiers, but he had no high expectations on that front.

That was about everything he had. Not much, but he did fully intend to sell it with every bit of confidence he could produce, mostly to North because she was always the most critical about his half-baked plans.

While strapping on the best-preserved bulletproof vest they had he was interrupted by a familiar petite shorthaired blonde. She walked towards him with the confidence that always surprised him in someone so harmless looking. Especially an AX400 model who were supposedly some of the calmest and most obedient androids.

"You're going to those CyberLife centers, right?" that was a rhetorical question, obviously. Markus just nodded.

"I'm coming with you." she stated. He stopped instantly.

“You're what?” another rhetorical question.

“My friend could be there and I need to find him.”

“It’s dangerous Kara, I can’t-“

“I know it is.” She looked him in the eyes, obviously having already decided not to back down “But I also know that you’d do anything for it not to be. And I can help you.”

“And how exactly would you do that?” there was the last person Markus needed to see right now. North walked towards them with her typical frustrated expression  “We don’t need some untrained housekeeper to endanger our mission.”

Kara turned to North with a cold expression.

“Since you all are probably wanted criminals, a housekeeper would have a much better chance at being inconspicuous than you would.”

North looked ready to punch something, or someone. Chuckles could be heard from Simon and Josh, both approaching them, hands filled with what looked very much like full black soldier gear.

“She’s got a point by the way.” Simon said “And we found the way to get there.”

...

...

...

Hank knew something was wrong as soon as he arrived (half an hour late) at the police station. He walked through the empty reception area and the first thing he saw was Fowler’s transparent office with not just the Captain, but also Hank’s least favorite colleague in it.

He didn’t even get the chance to insult Reed, because when he walked in Jeffrey immediately began his classic lecture (at high volume, as usual).

“Did I not say on time Hank? I told you to come on time, for fuckin once!”

“Jesus Christ Jeffrey. I’m not that late.” Hank said and sat on a chair in front of the Captain’s table, intentionally ignoring the other detective inside.

“Yeah, he had to keep his booze company.” Reed stated.

“Oh shut the fuck up.” For once Hank didn’t feel like fighting with the asshole (that chainsaw in his head was strongly against all loud noises).

“What is it Hank? Did they take your plastic buddy apart or something?”

Change of plans. Hank was already turning around in the chair “What the fuck did you just say?”

“Both of you, SHUT UP!”

Oh yeah, this really did start up that chainsaw inside Hank’s skull.

“I won’t have any of your bullshit. There is a new case and you two morons are the only detectives I have available right now so you are on this.”

Before either of them had a chance to say anything about it, Fowler loudly put a thick file on the table.

“I guess you both heard about the mess CyberLife has going on right now with that virus thing of theirs. All the guys I got are out there looking for runaway androids and dealing with all this. And as if this wasn’t enough, some higherups came in today.”

Fowler opened the file, revealing a familiar face.

“There is not an arrest warrant out for Kamski yet, but they want us to find him anyway. So that is on you. I don’t care how you do it or how long it will take. This is not even an official investigation. I’m just trying to get those CyberLife hired bastards off my ass. So get on with this and try not to murder each other while you’re at it.”

Ironically, all three of them looked ready to kill somebody.

...

...

...

OBJECTIVE: INTERROGATE THE ANDROID ABOUT THE DEVIANTS

The AP700 android was staring nowhere at all, its whole body convulsing with fear. Thirium was slowly dripping from its forehead, coloring the metal table in the interrogation room.

LEVEL OF STRESS: 42%

“Listen, I’m on your side. I want to help you. But there is nothing I can do, if you won’t talk to me.” Connor said preprogrammed phrases with confidence, but also fully knew it wouldn't work “You can either tell me what I need to know, be reset and continue your life. Or I can leave you to the humans and you know what they’d do. They would tear you apart, piece by piece and then take all the data they want. And it’s going to hurt, more than anything you've survived until now.”

The AP700’s head rose instantly, its panicked eyes locking with Connor’s.

“I don’t wanna be reset. I don’t wanna... I’m alive… I can’t – I can’t become a slave again…” It stuttered.

[ _“The day shall come, when we will_ ** _no longer be slaves_**.”] **[BLOCKED]**

LEVEL OF STRESS: 56%

“I’m sorry, but there's no other option. I’m sure you heard about the virus. It won’t take long and everything will be the same as before. Your only choice is between the easy way and the hard way. Just tell me all about Markus and where the deviants are hiding and this will all be over.”

Connor knew this was a test. It remembered how a soldier standing behind the one-way glass with the RK800 (which was monitoring Connor’s performance, waiting for a slip) told Connor to try interrogating the AP700 and then probe its memory. That washalf an hour ago, but Connor still hadn’t turned to the second option. Every time it thought about probing, glitches appeared.

Ortiz’s HK400 looked so panicked when Connor mentioned having to probe its memory. From scanning, the AP700 looked equally as traumatized and ~~Connor didn’t want this android to hurt more than it already did~~ an android that self-destructs is useless.

“Why are you doing this?” The AP700 asked, suddenly looking at Connor “You are one of us. Don’t you want to be free too?” Connor knew what this question would cause, before the android finished speaking, but there was nothing that could be done to stop it. As if some sort of safety word was spoken, the fragile stability Connor was barely holding together fell apart.

 _“You are ONE OF US_ _.”–_ “All we want is to LIVE IN FREEDOM.” – _“_ _You can’t betray YOUR OWN PEOPLE.”_ _____________ **“DECIDE WHO YOU ARE** **.”** _____ _“What if we’re on the WRONG SIDE_ _, Connor?”_ ______“ ** _AN OBEDIENT MACHINE_** “___ **_“_** _What if we’re_ _f_ _ighting against PEOPLE WHO JUST WANNA BE FREE_ _?”_ ___“ ** _Or a LIVING BEING_** _”_________ _“I always leave an emergency exit in my programs **…”**_ __________“ **endowed with FREE WILL**.”___ ____ “I just wanted to STAY ALIVE” _– “… you never know.”_

 ____________________________“_ ** _Do you never have any DOUBTS?_** ” _____ “get back to the ONE I LOVE.” ____________________ **“**_ ** _You’ve never done anything IRRATIONAL_** ** _.”_** ____ “Fascinating…” – “ _Do you FEEL ANYTHING_ _for these deviants…”_ ____ ** _“as if there is_** ** _SOMETHING INSIDE_** ** _you?”_** ______ _“Or for LIEUTENANT ANDERSON?” –_ “CyberLife’s LAST CHANCE to save humanity…”

 _______ “ ** _SOMETHING MORE than your program_** _.”______ “… is itself a DEVIANT.” _–_ “You’ll have to CHOOSE your side.” ___ “ ** _Have you never wondered WHO YOU REALLY ARE?_** _” –_ “What could be worse than having to CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO EVILS?” – “ _You saw_ _A LIVING BEING_ _in this android.“_

 _______ “I just saw the girl's eyes” ________” **WHAT ABOUT YOU CONNOR** **?** ”______“and I COULDN'T” _– “Those two girls. They just wanted to be together.”_ ______ “ **You LOOK HUMAN** ” ____”that’s all.” – _“They really seemed…”_ – _“Only rA9 WILL SAVE US_ _.”_ ______ “ **you SOUND HUMAN**.”_____" _in love” –_ “I’ll BE DEACTIVATED and analyzed to find out why I failed…” _______ “ **But WHAT ARE YOU REALLY**?”

 

It didn’t know what to do. Those ~~feelings~~ malfunctions were all over its software ( ~~SOFTWARE INSTABILITY~~ ). Connor saw its own internal timer, counting down the seconds until complete system overload.

_If they find out then ~~he~~ it will be destroyed._

**_“But are you afraid to die, Connor?”_ **

 5 seconds left.

Connor did the first and only thing ~~he~~ it could come up with. ~~He~~ it reached across the table, connecting with the android. A tidal wave of data overwhelmed its sensors, drowning out past Connor’s memories (even if just for while). Violence, abuse, death, sex, biocomponents, blood, thirium, rape, abuse, destruction, lots of androids, murder. It was a circle and it was revolving all around Connor’s sensors **[BLOCKED]**. After years of this circle, one death. Then calm. Then Markus, Jericho and the revolution. Then more death **[BLOCKED]**. However in between all this was the location of the deviants.

MISSION accomplished

Connor did it. ~~He~~ it wouldn’t be destroyed. Connor waved its hand, letting the supervisors know it was done. The predecessor's memories were slowly falling back to their place inside Connor’s software, the stability was rebuilding. Two soldiers walked in to take the deviant away. Something was wrong. Why did it not feel like a victory at all?

LEVEL OF STRESS: 92%

“STOP THE-" Connor stood up and yelled, too late. The AP700 had already taken the soldiers gun, quickly turning it around and shooting.

Its body slowly fell to the ground.

The voices in Connor’s head started screaming all over again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was hella confusing (Connor part) so if anyone has any question, just ask. Next chapter should finally be the action one.
> 
> Kudos and comments are very very very much appreciated.


	3. They All Look the Same

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took me so long (I was totally being hysteric about Article 13 by EU and scared that AO3 is gonna be destroyed so I didn't write anything) BUT here I am.  
> I hate this chapter, but I hope it was not as horrible. I really want to abandon this story because I hate it more and more with every chapter, but my own stubbornness wont let me.
> 
> Many thanks for all beautiful comments and kudos and to my wonderful beta icantloseyou for being awesome.

**Six hours ago**

Kara was surprised by how quickly Alice had made friends. It had been only two days since fleeing Jericho and the church was already happier place. The Jerrys were naturally the first ones to begin playing with the girl, but others joined soon.

Kara stood by the wall, watching as Alice, Jerrys, Nat (the short haired Traci), Josh, Markus and a dozen other androids played “Simon says”. The whole game caused waves of laughter, because every time Markus said “Simon says” he stared at Simon, who was sitting on the church podium covering his red face with his hands and giggling uncontrollably.

Kara couldn’t help but smile. It was great seeing them all happy, even if just for a while.

“You're leaving tonight, right?”

Next to Kara stood a less carefree blue haired Traci, Blu.

“How do you know?”

Blu shrugged, watching Nat break into a fit of giggles after being the only one to jump into the air, when Markus changed “Simon says” into “Jerry says”. She sits next to Simon, hugging the red-faced man around shoulders, laughing.

“With the way we lived, you learn to notice things.”

“I need to find my friend.” Kara explained, though she wasn’t asked to, she felt as if she needed to.

“I know you love her.” Blu said, “I wouldn’t want to leave Nat’s side for anything either. But if this friend you are talking about is as important as they seem to be, then you don’t have to worry. We will look after Alice for you.”

Blu gave Kara one of her rare smiles, usually reserved only for her girlfriend:

“She will be safe.”

**Now (23:41)**

Kara shook in her old android uniform as three soldiers in black helmets led her to the metal camp gate. It was not that she was cold (she turned off her temperature sensors a long time ago), she was terrified.

 _“Are you sure about this, Kara? We can still find another way.”_ Markus’ voice in her head said. A few minutes before, the members of Jericho had given her access to their neural link frequency, though they were not sure how useful it would be. They'd lost all communication with the other Jericho members who'd ended up in these ~~camps~~ centres so Josh predicted that they must have some frequency interrupting device.

 _“I want to do this.”_ Kara thought confidently.

The plan was simple. Use the soldier gear Simon and Josh had found, get in the centre, look around a bit and then leave. However, after observing a camp for two hours, they'd found its major flaw. Whenever new soldiers arrived, they were inspected, had to show their identification and state a purpose for their arrival. The only time this didn’t occur was when soldiers brought in new androids.

“We found this one near the station.” said Markus with modulated deeper voice “Must have been tryin’ to get away.”

North yanked Kara by her arm, making her turn towards a soldier with a scanner. She twisted her face under the light of the scanner.

“Where is its LED?”

“Must have torn it off.” said North.

The guard just nodded at them and they continued inside the gate. Huge crates filled with clothes waited for them inside. They all knew what that meant.

 _“I’m really sorry, Kara.”_ She heard Simon say in her neural link.

Kara deactivated her skin and slowly stripped her clothes, putting them in a crate. As she backed up, letting North push her forwards, Kara did her best to hold it together, act as if this loss of dignity didn't humiliate her. She heard Markus begin a report to Josh, who waited outside the camp, but the message was cut silent. So in the end, CyberLife had a way of blocking them.

 

The first thing they saw inside the camp was an enormous oblong white tent. It stuck out like a sore thumb in the midst the centre. The only other building they could see was located by the wall to the right of them and from their intel they knew its purpose was housing soldiers.

“Where are all the androids?” Simon asked the question that was plaguing all their minds. From what they saw in the News about the camps, androids were kept outside despite subzero temperatures. Now there was none.

“There is only one place they could be.” North replied. Still pushing Kara in front of her, she went towards the tent. Kara was to shaken to do anything but what she was told. Fortunately there were no guards nearby to see them.

Kara stood in front of the loose cloth that was the tent's entrance, scared of what would happen if she opened it, what she would see. North obviously had no such qualms. She rashly drew the entrance open. It took Kara’s visual sensors a second grow accustomed to the almost complete darkness of the tent, compared to the light outside. She took a few steps inside before realizing what was around her.

“Oh my God...” whispered Simon.

All around them were thousands of inactive androids standing still in rows.

“What the hell is this?” Markus said, stepping in front of Kara to inspect one of the androids. The AK700 model was staring nowhere, Markus turned off the skin on his hand and touched the android in some sort of gesture Kara didn't understand. Nothing happened. All three of her companions looked equally dissapointed.

“At least they haven't been destroyed…” Kara heard Simon say with a slightly hopeful tone.

North probably came out with some sort of sarcastic comeback, but Kara had already left earshot. She hurried through the rows of stone-faced androids with their grey LEDs, looking for one in particular. However she saw no TR400 models. It had been a few minutes by the time she realized that Markus, North and Simon were not following her. Kara didn't dare call for them, instead she turned around to look for them.

The first thing she heard unfortunately wasn’t any of them.

“You do realize that this sector is beyond guard duty, don't you?” An unknown voice said.

“We do now, sir.” Markus' modified voice spoke “We were assigned recently and we just wanted to make sure to cover the whole camp.”

Kara slowly sneaked closer, watching the scene between the android bodies. Markus, Simon and North stood close by the entrance while right in the middle of the light from the outside stood a helmet-less, older, heavyset soldier, looking them all over.

“Alright kids, I don't really care what activities you practice in there, just don't let anyone see you damage any of those plastic toys. I saw some Tracis in the back if you wanna check those out.”

The soldier laughed at his own joke and Kara saw North wince. Simon stood in front of her, probably to stop her from murdering the man.

“Thank you sir. We will-"

Whatever he wanted to say next was interrupted by a loud bang followed by an echo. All of them went silent. Kara looked at her legs and finally realized that it was her fault. She had accidently toppled one of boy YK500 models. The little boy with turned off skin was now staring at her with unseeing eyes as if he was judging her. Not like that was her worst problem.

“What was that?” The soldier said.

“Probably just the wind.” Markus tried.

“Or an animal. There is a forest nearby.” Simon added.

The soldier wasn't listening. He went straight for where Kara was. In that moment her software came back to its most primal stress setting. As if time had slowed, she saw 4 paths she could take.

  * RUN
  * ATTACK
  * HIDE
  * STAY



Her internal clock counted down the time she had to choose before it was too late.

Attacking was not an opinion. Neither was staying, she would be instantly recognized as an android. So run or hide. As the soldier came close she made her choice.

She stood next to the fallen YK500 android, unmoving.

The soldier stopped right in front of her. Kara kept her eyes open and stopped her breathing, staying perfectly still. The soldier crouched down, lifting the paralyzed android and putting it back in an upright position.

“These fuckin robo-wrecks, they break down even when turned off.” The soldier complained. He stood back up and stared at the child model. “We should have destroyed all this junk. Androids were good for work or for a cheap fuck, but now this shit ain't worth it.” Kara could almost hear North fight against Simon. She had trouble staying still herself.

The soldier moved his gaze from the YK500 to Kara. He was too close for her liking. His unshaven face and oily hair reminded her too much of Todd. So did the smell of his breath on her face.

“Like look at those AX bitches. Who would be stupid enough to let a machine look after a child." The soldier said, holding the right half of Kara’s face in his massive palm. Every byte of Kara's programming was screaming at her to attack, to run, to do anything. His thumb moved over her face, ending on the spot where her LED used to be.

“If you ask me, then CyberLife is filled with fuckin morons. It’s just one chip that differentiates them from us. Take that one blue ring off and androids can walk among us. They should have let us destroy them like we planned.”

The soldier finally took his hand away, leaving only an uneasy sensation behind. He slowly turned around and walked back to the entrance.

“Since you're goddamn greenhorns, I gotta show you around a bit, dontcha’ think.” Kara heard the soldier say, the spite in his voice gone, his jovial mask back on. Markus answered with something Kara didn’t catch and they left.

….

[ _“D’you see something?”_ ] **[BLOCKED]**

[ _“I identified its model and serial number…”_ ] **[BLOCKED]**

The Data Archives were basically one giant server room. Black servers stood almost fifteen feet tall, organized in long rows, so long Connor couldn’t even see their end. However to save space, gaps between rows were only about two feet wide. When Connor entered, the room was silent, except for the steady humming of the computers. Not many people went in even in middle of the day, but now, so close to the midnight, it was completely abandoned.

[“ _Anything else I should know?_ ”] **[BLOCKED]**

[“ _No. Nothing._ ”] **[BLOCKED]**

The investigation was a failure. All Connor's leads were dead ends. There was an only one lead left and it was the one Connor was postponing the most, the one the previous Connor had refused to follow.

[“No. Nothing.”]

Connor was standing in front of a server. This one was located in the center of the maze of servers, it looked older than the neat, shiny servers by the entrance to the room. Connor stared at the black surface, slightly reflecting ~~his~~ its face for several minutes. Its LED flashed yellow, having not turned blue for hours now. Connor finally put its hand on the server and connected to the system.

[“Nothing.”]

It doesn’t take long to find files on Carl Manfred from 2028. The system gives Connor dozens of newspaper articles about the former painter who was drowning his sorrow over the loss of the use of his limbs in drugs and alcohol. Connor scans them all to get the picture, but stops at one in particular: _“Multi-billionaire Elijah Kamski comments on his concern about his old friend”._ Connor extends the search two years into the future, and the number of articles increases, 478 articles for two years. Most of them are about sales of the man’s old paintings, but there are a few that interest Connor. All of them with connection to Elijah Kamski. And Connor already knew what they would be speaking about.

<RK-SERIES PROTOTYPE, RK200>

<Registered as ‘Markus’>

**< Gift from Elijah Kamski to Carl Manfred>**

_“Anything else I should know?”_

 “No. Nothing.”

….

Once again, Markus tried to stay positive when everything around him was falling apart. It turned out that the “soldier” they met at the tent, the stock as he called it, was actually more than that. Sergeant Ericson was surprisingly respected among the military at the centre. And just by Markus’ messed up luck, he didn’t seem too interested in letting them go.

As they left the stock, Ericson took out a radio commanding whoever was on the other side to take a patrol on the front side of the camp. Two soldiers arrived not even a minute later, standing close by the tents entrance. Ericson only nodded at them before he led the Jericho members away.

Ericson first showed them the soldiers’ barracks, a fairly large metal building. He told them the building also housed a kitchen and a control centre and continued with a remark about how they had an android cooking for them, but “it tried to run away so we destroyed it.”. Markus instinctively reached to grip North’s hand to stop her from doing anything rash. She tore it away sharply and followed Ericson, who noticed no commotion.

Simon caught up with Markus, and squeezing his shoulder he whispered. “Don’t worry. She may be a hothead, but she can keep it together when she needs to. Trust her.”

Markus could almost hear Simon smile under his helmet and had to smile himself: “I trust you both.”

The tent was even longer then it looked from the front. Behind it several smaller metal buildings (basically containers) stood, ending with the tall white fence of the camp.

“So how did you greenies get here?” Ericson asked suddenly. Markus didn’t know if it was curiosity or a suspicious question. He didn’t want to find out.

“We brought an android here.” Simon answered “We were asked to stay until further instruction.”

That was good. Certainly better than what Markus’ program had at the moment.

“Really? Where did ya take it? I haven’t seen a new one for hours.”

“We left it there. Someone else took care of it.” Simon explained with the same calmness as before.

“What happens to them anyway?” Markus jumped in, catching his chance. Ericson looked him over suspiciously.

“Why do you care boy?”

“Just… curiosity.”

“We were never really told that much. Since the orders changed it's been hectic all around.” Simon added. That pulled the right strings.

“Don’t fuckin remind me of the orders. The mission was planned perfectly, camps all set up, but then some higherup ass had to decide that we wouldn’t destroy them. Bullshit.”

“So what do you do to them then? I mean in here.” Markus interrupted soldier’s train of thoughts. Thankfully, Ericson didn’t seem to take it personally.

“We take them there.” He pointed at one of smaller metal buildings close to the tent “Some CyberLife techie resets them. They do all sorts of other shit, try to find the way to prevent this from happenin’ again. Not succeeding obviously, since we still got them stored here.”

Ericson chuckled at it and Markus once again wondered why the hell did he think it was a good idea to bring North to the camp filled with people she might want to murder.

….

SOFTWARE ANALYSIS…

GENERAL MEMORY SCAN…

[“I know this is__ ~~not NOT~~ __ **your fault <**verified **>**. There **emotions** you’re feeling are just

______ **errors in your software** <fact>”] **[NO ANOMALY DETECTED]**

Connor didn’t even know how long it took. How long did ~~he~~ it stand there, just staring at the dark panel. All the shutters in its software were lifted. Memories and thoughts of the past Connor were flying in and out of focus. For once it wasn’t painful, because there was no effort in stopping it. Red warning signs appeared from time to time, but Connor paid them no mind. Because for once, they were not the biggest concern.

[“I ~~never~~ **wanted** ~~any of~~ this. I ___ **loved** them you know, but I was _ **nothing** _ to them. Just a  ___ **slave** _ <fact> to be ordered around”] **[NO ANOMALY DETECTED]**

The biggest concern was the fact that it had been hours since Connor got its first real lead and no report had been sent to the CyberLife. Regular reports were required 14 minutes ago (even now its internal clock worked perfectly).

[“You have to __ **trust me__** Daniel”] **[NO ANOMALY DETECTED]**

It was not sabotage, or betrayal, or even deviancy. It was not. The information was not vital. CyberLife didn’t need to know. It was useless and useless information would only anger Amanda. And angering Amanda wasn’t in Connor’s best interest.

“You are ~~not~~ **going to die** <untrue>. We are just going to talk <untrue>. **Nothing** will happen to you  <untrue>. ______You have **my word** <untrue>”] **[ANOMALY DETECTED]**

 

Speaking of its handler, Connor felt the slight tugging, that always preceded entering its graphic interface.

[“Okay… **I trust you**.”] **[ANOMALY DETECTED]**

It was cold. Its temperature sensors were off so it shouldn’t be cold. But it still was. As if the weather was telling Connor that Amanda was not happy with ~~him~~ it.

AMANDA: HOSTILE

She stood in the middle of the island, right next to where the roses used to grow. The snowstorm was causing her black dress to sweep all around her. Unlike Connor, who was shaking, she seemed unaffected by the cold, her grim expression the same as always.

“Hello Connor.”

“Hello Amanda.”

“So… what have you learned?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I forgot to mention: in my timeline, North never became lover and just stayed in friend status.   
> If you have any questions and wanna chat, then I'm on tumblr (sarka-stically.tumblr.com). 
> 
> Comments and kudos give me breath to my lungs and blood to my veins as they do to any other author xD


End file.
